Golden Lane

Golden Lane is a narrow cobbled street of tiny, brightly painted houses tucked against the northern wall of Prague Castle. Built in the sixteenth century for castle guards and later occupied by goldsmiths, the diminutive dwellings now hold reconstructed period interiors, a small armoury, and craft workshops. Writer Franz Kafka briefly worked in the blue house at number 22 during the winter of 1916. Walking the lane gives a compressed sense of everyday life inside the fortress, contrasting sharply with the grand palaces nearby.